onomatopoeia

Definition of onomatopoeia

1: the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz, hiss)also: a word formed by onomatopoeia In comic books, when you see someone with a gun, you know it's only going off when you read the onomatopoeias. — Christian Marclay

2: the use of words whose sound suggests the sense
a study of the poet's onomatopoeia

Did You Know?

Onomatopoeia came into English via Late Latin and ultimately traces back to Greek onoma, meaning "name," and poiein, meaning "to make." ("Onoma" can be found in such terms as "onomastics," which refers to the study of proper names and their origins, while "poiein" gave us such words as "poem" and "poet.") English speakers have only used the word onomatopoeia since the mid-1500s, but people have been creating words from the sounds heard around them for much longer. In fact, the presence of so many imitative words in language spawned the linguistic Bowwow Theory, which postulates that language originated in imitation of natural sounds.

Examples of onomatopoeia in a Sentence

The term hiccup is an example of onomatopoeia …— Fred Cicetti, Montague Reporter, 6 Mar. 2008You might think it was an onomatopoeia of the sound a Frisbee makes as it moves through the air, but the name has been attributed for years to the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Conn., which went out of business in 1958.— Mark Danna, Sports Illustrated, 11 May 1987Buzz and hiss are examples of onomatopoeia.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'onomatopoeia.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.